Film Freak Central,2003:weblog-99928295733106445 2019-09-28T16:04:47-05:00 TypePad The X Files: Abduction (1993-1995) [Four-Disc Mythology Collection] - DVD,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c0240a4d7cc33200b 2019-09-28T16:04:47-05:00 2019-09-28T16:04:47-05:00 Image B Sound B Extras D "Pilot," "Deep Throat," "Fallen Angel," "E.B.E.," "The Erlenmeyer Flask," "Little Green Men," "Duane Barry," "Ascension," "One Breath," "Red Museum," "Colony," "End Game," "Anasazi," "The Blessing Way," "Paper Clip" by Walter Chaw I used to, like every other dork I know, love "The X Files"--used to look forward to its mythology episodes as though series creator Chris Carter actually had something up his sleeve in terms of a long-term plan for his show, never suspecting until the middle seasons that the emperor was nude. (Desperate, too.) See, "The X Files" is guilty of giving the public what it wanted, forgetting that the public never really knows what it wants (would it have asked for a show about two platonic FBI agents investigating UFOs in the first place?) and that once it gets what it thinks it wants, it tends to stop waiting around for it. "The X Files"' slogan "The Truth is Out There" became something of an early-Nineties pop-cultural mantra akin to "Keep On Truckin'" of the mid-'60s to mid-'70s and "Shit Happens" of Reagan-era id suppression (the biggest surprise of "The X Files" may be how creaky and antiquated it is a mere... Walter Chaw The Untouchables: Season 1, Volume 1 (1959-1960) + The Scarface Mob (1959) - DVDs,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c0240a4a83b1b200b 2019-05-04T14:57:55-05:00 2019-05-04T15:36:47-05:00 THE UNTOUCHABLES: SEASON 1, VOLUME 1 Image B+ Sound B Extras D+ "The Empty Chair," "Ma Barker and Her Boys," "The George 'Bugs' Moran Story," "The Jake Lingle Killings," "Ain't We Got Fun," "Vincent 'Mad Dog' Coll," "Mexican Stake-Out," "The Artichoke King," "The Tri-State Gang," "The Dutch Schultz Story," "You Can't Pick the Number," "The Underground Railway," "Syndicate Sanctuary," "The Noise of Death" THE SCARFACE MOB ***/**** Image A- Sound B Extras D+ starring Robert Stack, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Nichols, Pat Crowley written by Paul Monash, based on the novel The Untouchables by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley directed by Phil Karlson by Ian Pugh I love Brian De Palma's The Untouchables precisely for the self-consciously fictionalized varnish that curiously seems to have earned it disdain among the director's devotees. Apart from its romantic, "pure cinema" thrills, however, its Hollywood gloss is the perfect complement to De Palma's penchant for effortlessly transforming assaults on the body into assaults on the mind: an undercurrent of violence constantly threatens to erupt and destroy the gentle exterior of a make-believe 1930s Utopia dictated by fedoras and pinstripe suits. No such undercurrent exists in the original 1959-63 Robert Stack television series on which the... Bill Chambers Futuramarama,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c0223c850007e200c 2018-06-02T20:01:20-05:00 2018-06-02T20:01:20-05:00 FUTURAMA: BENDER'S BIG SCORE (2007) ***½/**** Image A- Sound B+ Extras B screenplay by Ken Keeler directed by Dwayne Carey-Hill FUTURAMA: THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS (2008) **/**** Image A- Sound A- Extras B- screenplay by Eric Kaplan directed by Peter Avanzino FUTURAMA: BENDER'S GAME (2008) *½/**** Image A- Sound A- Extras B+ screenplay by Eric Horsted (parts one and two), Michael Rowe & Eric Kaplan (part three), David X. Cohen & Patric M. Verrone (part four) directed by Dwayne Carey-Hill FUTURAMA: INTO THE WILD GREEN YONDER (2009) */**** Image A+ Sound A Extras C screenplay by Ken Keeler directed by Peter Avanzino by Ian Pugh While Matt Groening with "The Simpsons" had an incalculable effect on how I perceived movies, television, and just about everything else in life, truth be told I probably love his "Futurama" more. What can I say other than that it came at the right time in my life--it was my "Star Trek", my "Buffy", my "Doctor Who": the first sci-fi property to capture my heart, and the avatar into which I poured all my nerdy obsessions. I appreciated its ability to strike a perfect balance of comedy and characterization that legitimized its silliest... Bill Chambers Frank Herbert's Dune (2000) - DVD|Frank Herbert's Dune [Special Edition: Director's Cut] - DVD,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01bb09eb1311970d 2018-01-21T20:16:35-05:00 2018-01-21T20:16:35-05:00 ***/**** DVD - Image C+ Sound C+ Extras C+ DVD (SEDC) - Image A Sound A Extras A- starring William Hurt, Alec Newman, Saskia Reeves, James Watson screenplay by John S. Harrison, based on the novel by Frank Herbert directed by John Harrison by Jarrod Chambers On the whole I enjoyed the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune, which was adapted and directed by John Harrison. It has a sustained mood, it conveys some of the spirit of its source material, and it is entertaining, especially the last episode. The plot, stated baldly: Paul Atreides (Alec Newman), the young son of Duke Leto Atreides (William Hurt) comes to a desert planet called Arrakis, notable as the only source in the universe of the mysterious substance "spice." The spice unleashes psychic powers in young Paul, who, along with his mother, Jessica (Saskia Reeves), is driven from his home and must join the Fremen, a group of desert nomads. He grows up with the tribe and eventually leads a rebellion against House Harkonnen, who now rule Arrakis, finally brokering a peace with the Emperor Shaddam IV (Giancarlo Giannini) and the mysterious Spacing Guild, which owns all the spaceships. RUNNING TIME 265 minutes ASPECT... Bill Chambers Wes Craven Presents Don't Look Down (1998) - DVD,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01b7c9473567970b 2018-01-19T21:49:39-05:00 2018-01-19T21:49:39-05:00 ZERO STARS/**** Image C Sound C starring Megan Ward, Billy Burke, Terry Kinney, Angela Moore teleplay by Gregory Goodell directed by Larry Shaw by Walter Chaw The easy thing to do with the Wes Craven-produced tele-shocker Don't Look Down is to add the addendum "because you'll see this movie at the bottom" to its title. Broadcast on the Hallmark Channel as a zero-budget, zero-thrills bit of particularly fragrant, past-its-sell-by-date cheese, the plot involves TV-movie Ashley Judd-alike Megan Ward (and, indeed, the actress played Ashley in a TV-movie, Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge) as Carla, a woman who's lost her feral hippie sister (Tara Spencer-Nairn--see her now in Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled!) in a freak sight-seeing accident and so develops a bad case of acrophobia. RUNNING TIME 90 minutes MPAA Not Rated ASPECT RATIO(S) 1.33:1 LANGUAGES English Dolby Surround CC Yes SUBTITLES None REGION 1 DISC TYPE DVD-5 STUDIO Artisan In truth, she develops a bad case of seeing dead people, but in a classic case of treating the symptoms, she seeks out hack doctor/drill sergeant Dr. Paul (Terry Kinney, the co-founder of the Steppenwolf Theater Company as it happens) and his "Bob Newhart"-ian group of folks afraid... Walter Chaw Dinotopia (2002) - DVD,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01b7c9464fee970b 2018-01-17T14:02:35-05:00 2018-01-17T14:02:35-05:00 */**** Image A Sound A Extras B starring David Thewlis, Katie Carr, Jim Carter, Alice Krige screenplay by Simon Moore, based on the Dinotopia books by James Gurney directed by Marco Brambilla by Walter Chaw Dinotopia is not so much a remake of Sid and Marty Krofft's schlock-classic television show "Land of the Lost" as it is "Land of the Lost" with computer graphics imaging. The miniseries, which originally aired on ABC last spring, comes complete with mystical power stones, lost cities, an unforeseen disaster leading to the outsider discovery of the primeval setting, mysterious old technologies, talking beasties, and, of course, dinosaurs. It's not fair to say that Dinotopia is unwatchable, because four hours later, I'm shuddering proof that it is, technically, watchable--better to say it's improbable that anyone over the mental age of five will finish this miserable marathon unless it's their sad occupation to do so. RUNNING TIME 240 minutes MPAA PG-13 ASPECT RATIO(S) 1.33:1 LANGUAGES English DD 2.0 (Stereo) CC Yes SUBTITLES None REGION 1 DISC TYPE 2 DVD-9s STUDIO Artisan Karl (Tyron Leitso) and David (Wentworth Miller) are brothers whose father (Stuart Wilson) goes down with their single-engine plane, marooning them on (trumpet refrain) Dinotopia,... Walter Chaw Desperate Housewives: The Complete First Season (2004-2005) - DVD,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01bb09e6ed29970d 2018-01-09T01:32:37-05:00 2018-01-09T01:32:38-05:00 Image A+ Sound A Extras B+ "Pilot," "Ah, But Underneath," "Pretty Little Picture," "Who's That Woman?," "Running to Stand Still," "Anything You Can Do," "Guilty," "Suspicious Minds," "Come Back to Me," "Move On," "Every Day a Little Death," "Your Fault," "Love Is in the Air," "Impossible," "If It's Brown, Flush It Down," "There Won't Be Trumpets," "Children Will Listen," "Live Alone and Like It," "Fear No More," "Sunday in the Park with George," "Goodbye for Now," "One Wonderful Day" by Walter Chaw The writing on Marc Cherry's "Desperate Housewives" is astringent and bright for the first dozen episodes or so. For more than half the first season, the show works as an effervescent satire of evening potboilers like "Dallas" or "Falcon Crest": It understands the attraction/repulsion dynamic of venerable bodice-ripping soapers and boils them down to their base elements of women, houses, relationships, and desperation. Eventually, though, the series falls off the tightrope all satires walk between commentary and indulgence--it starts having too good a time pretending to be that which it disdains and, in so doing, reveals its true colours as a drag revue played by women, ultimately freeing it of irony. Just look to the reports of on-set... Walter Chaw Deadwood: The Complete Third Season (2006) + Rome: The Complete First Season (2005) - DVDs,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01b7c94387eb970b 2018-01-08T20:51:23-05:00 2018-01-08T20:51:23-05:00 DEADWOOD: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON Image A Sound A Extras A+ "Tell Your God to Ready for Blood," "I Am Not The Fine Man You Take Me For," "True Colors," "Full Faith And Credit," "A Two-Headed Beast," "A Rich Find," "Unauthorized Cinnamon," "Leviathan Smiles," "Amateur Night," "A Constant Throb," "The Catbird Seat," "Tell Him Something Pretty" ROME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON Image A Sound A Extras C "The Stolen Eagle," "How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic," "An Owl in a Thornbush," "Stealing From Saturn," "The Ram Has Touched The Wall," "Egeria," "Pharsalus," "Caesarion," "Utica," "Triumph," "The Spoils," "Kalends of February" by Walter Chaw HBO is the watermark for televised drama, no question. With "The Sopranos"--which began like high-concept and ended like avant-garde--as their flagship, they've progressed through the psychic devastation of "Six Feet Under" (was there ever a final episode of any series so steeped in existential terror?), the insouciance of "Entourage", the social nihilism of "Curb Your Enthusiasm", and the repugnant popular deviance of "Sex in the City", only to find as their bedrock circa 2007 something so slight (if so brilliant) as "Flight of the Conchords". Two contenders for that crown, "Rome" and "Deadwood", alas received their... Walter Chaw Nick Frost's Danger! 50,000 Volts! (2002) - DVD,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01b8d2cd1574970c 2018-01-05T20:58:39-05:00 2018-01-05T20:58:39-05:00 Danger! 50,000 Volts! Image C Sound C Extras A "Alligator Attack!", "Thugs with Baseball Bats!", "High Speed Chases!", "Minefields!", "Fires!", "Being Impaled!", "Lightning Strikes!", "Tidal Waves!", "Hostage Situations!" by Walter Chaw Locating itself somewhere between "Jackass", "Insomniac with Dave Attell", and "MythBusters", "Danger! 50000 Volts!" is a series of semi-improvisational interviews with people in bad jobs, interspersed with the jocular, rotund Frost putting himself in situations of peril for the bemusement of a bemused audience. More British than terrible, "Danger! 50000 Volts!" reminds of a "World's Greatest Chases" hidden-camera show where Scotland Yard chased down a felon at speeds approaching upwards of ten, eleven miles an hour. So the pacing isn't exactly pulse-pounding, but there's an affability to Frost and his willingness to insert himself into dangerous situations that makes the show an agreeable time-passer. Its apocalyptic tone (shades of "Worst Case Scenario")--the idea that you'll eventually find yourself in a minefield after having fallen through ice and been impaled on a pole the very same day you were attacked by a gorilla and hooligans with baseball bats--is ludicrous, of course (in fact, there's very little about the show that's real-world applicable), but watching a chubby comedic actor endure indignity... Walter Chaw Comedy Central's TV Funhouse: Uncensored (2000-2001) + Dear Pam [2 DVD Set] - DVDs,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01bb09e29948970d 2017-12-24T01:21:52-05:00 2017-12-24T01:21:52-05:00 COMEDY CENTRAL'S TV FUNHOUSE: UNCENSORED Image B Sound B Extras B- "Western Day," "Hawaiian Day," "Christmas Day," "Mexicans Day," "Caveman Day," "Safari Day," "Astronaut Day," "Chinese New Year's Day" DEAR PAM (1976) */**** Image C- Sound D+ Extras D+ starring Crystal Sync, Jennifer Jordan, John Holmes, Tony Perez written and directed by Harold Hindgrind by Ian Pugh Viewing it today, I realize that Robert Smigel's unfortunately short-lived Comedy Central series "TV Funhouse" probably represented a major turning point in my understanding of film and television as artforms. Its casual acquaintance with reality and fantasy was a vital link that germinated the meta seeds planted by "Freakazoid!" and Back to the Future Part II before I graduated to The Dead Pool and Tenebrae; and although the cartoons parodying celebrities are horribly dated now, they're most likely where I properly developed a sense of irony. ("Stedman," wherein Oprah's fiancé pretends to be a secret agent in order to spend her money and avoid sleeping with her, remains my most lucid memory of the show's broadcast run.) The revelation was somehow surprising yet completely logical all the same, considering how the show operates in a grey zone between two perspectives--that of a child... Bill Chambers The Fall Guy: The Complete First Season (1981-1982) + CHiPs: The Complete First Season (1977-1978) - DVDs,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01b8d2c767df970c 2017-12-14T17:42:30-05:00 2017-12-14T21:33:12-05:00 THE FALL GUY: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON Image B Sound B- Extras C- "The Fall Guy Pilot," "The Meek Shall Inherit Rhonda," "The Rich Get Richer," "That's Right, We're Bad," "Colt's Angels," "The Human Torch," "The Japanese Connection," "No Way Out," "License to Kill (Part 1)," "License to Kill (Part 2)," "Goin' For It!," "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harold," "Soldiers of Misfortune," "Ready, Aim... Die!," "Ladies on the Ropes," "The Snow Job," "Guess Who's Coming to Town," "Child's Play," "Charlie," "Three for the Road," "The Silent Partner," "Scavenger Hunt" CHiPs: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON Image C Sound B Extras D "Pilot," "Undertow," "Dog Gone," "Moving Violation," "Career Day," "Baby Food," "Taking Its Toll," "Green Thumb Burglar," "Hustle," "Highway Robbery," "Name Your Price," "Aweigh We Go," "One Two Many," "Rustling," "Surf's Up," "Vintage '54," "Hitch-Hiking Hitch," "Cry Wolf," "Crash Diet," "Rainy Day," "Crack-Up," "Flashback!" by Ian Pugh In giving a modern-day look-see to a television series that stars a late-'70s/early-'80s icon as a Hollywood stuntman who improbably moonlights as a charming, violent bounty hunter, it seems only natural to start the discussion by lobbing a few Death Proof jokes in its general direction. Take the time to really sit down... Bill Chambers The Big Bang Theory: The Complete First Season (2007-2008) - DVD,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01b7c9037b5e970b 2017-06-18T00:34:52-05:00 2017-06-18T00:34:52-05:00 Image B Sound B Extras D "Pilot," "The Big Bran Hypothesis," "The Fuzzyboots Corollary," "The Luminous Fish Effect," "The Hamburger Postulate," "The Middle Earth Paradigm," "The Dumpling Paradox," "The Grasshopper Experiment," "The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization," "The Loobenfeld Decay," "The Pancake Batter Anomaly," "The Jerusalem Duality," "The Bat Jar Conjecture," "The Nerdvana Annihilation," "The Pork Chop Indeterminacy," "The Peanut Reaction," "The Tangerine Factor" by Ian Pugh I absolutely love the fact that "The Big Bang Theory"'s episode titles refer to throwaway gags buried in the show's worn-out sitcom scenarios. In "The Jerusalem Duality" (1.12), theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) is flummoxed by the presence of a North Korean wunderkind who threatens to steal his thunder; eager to upstage him, Sheldon proposes to end to the conflict in the Middle East by building an exact replica of Jerusalem in the Mexican desert. Within this seemingly arbitrary naming convention, find everything "The Big Bang Theory" is attempting to accomplish--a jovial elbow to the ribs directed at the smart guys who can't see the forest through the trees in their approach to life. RUNNING TIME 21 minutes/episode ASPECT RATIO(S) 1.78:1 (16x9-enhanced) LANGUAGES English Dolby Surround CC Yes SUBTITLES English French Spanish Portuguese Chinese Korean... Bill Chambers Sealab 2021: Season IV (2004-2005) + Arrested Development: Season Three (2005-2006) - DVDs,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01bb09a100f9970d 2017-05-31T15:10:39-05:00 2017-05-31T15:10:39-05:00 SEALAB 2021: SEASON IV Image C Sound B Extras D "Isla de Chupacabra," "Joy of Grief," "Green Fever," "Sharko's Machine," "Return of Marko," "Casinko," "Butchslap," "Monkey Banana Raffle," "Shrabster," "Cavemen," "Moby Sick," "No Waterworld," "Legacy of Laughter" ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT: SEASON THREE Image A Sound B Extras B "The Cabin Show," "For British Eyes Only," "Forget Me Now," "Notapussy," "Mr. F," "The Ocean Walker," "Prison Break-In," "Making a Stand," "S.O.B.s," "Fakin' It," "Family Ties," "Exit Strategy," "Development Arrested" by Walter Chaw Oh, I get it. It's hostile. RUNNING TIME 14 minutes/episode ASPECT RATIO(S) 1.33:1 LANGUAGES English DD 2.0 (Stereo) CC Yes SUBTITLES English French Spanish REGION 1 DISC TYPE 2 DVD-5s STUDIO Warner RUNNING TIME 22 minutes/episode ASPECT RATIO(S) 1.78:1 (16x9-enhanced) LANGUAGES English Dolby Surround French Dolby Surround Spanish Dolby Surround CC Yes SUBTITLES English Spanish REGION 1 DISC TYPE 2 DVD-9s STUDIO Fox The rhyme and reason of "Sealab 2021"--a dubbed, found-footage exercise culled from a mostly-forgotten Hanna-Barbera cartoon called "Sealab 2020"--is that it's an unpleasant, ugly piece of work in the "Family Guy", random pop-culture mode, and if it happens more often than not to be of a hostility to which I respond, well, that speaks more to me... Walter Chaw Alien Nation: The Complete Series (1989-1990) + Doctor Who: The Complete First Series (2005) - DVDs,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01b7c8fb5343970b 2017-05-23T16:26:47-05:00 2018-12-18T14:41:45-05:00 ALIEN NATION: THE COMPLETE SERIES Image C Sound C Extras C "Alien Nation: The TV Movie (Pilot)," "Fountain of Youth," "Little Lost Lamb," "Fifteen with Wanda," "The Takeover," "The First Cigar," "Night of the Screams," "Contact," "Three to Tango," "The Game," "Chains of Love," "The Red Room," "The Spirit of '95," "Generation to Generation," "Eyewitness News," "Partners," "Real Men," "Crossing the Line," "Rebirth," "Gimme, Gimme," "The Touch," "Green Eyes" DOCTOR WHO: THE COMPLETE FIRST SERIES Image A Sound B Extras B "Rose," "The End of the World," "The Unquiet Dead," "Aliens of London," "World War Three," "Dalek," "The Long Game," "Father's Day," "The Empty Child," "The Doctor Dances," "Boom Town," "Bad Wolf," "The Parting of the Ways" by Walter Chaw I'm a fan of Graham Baker's dreadful Alien Nation from 1988. Run the words of the title together and you get a not-terribly-clever yet not-entirely-awful summary of what the film is getting at when it's not busy being a ludicrous high-concept buddy cop flick pairing your typical crusty old vet with an earnest rookie who happens to be an alien with a spotted pate instead of a hilarious racial minority. (Shades of Dead Heat, where Joe Piscopo played a bug-eyed... Walter Chaw Party Down: Season Two (2010) - DVD,2003:post-6a0168ea36d6b2970c01b8d27d65f1970c 2017-04-29T19:52:33-05:00 2017-04-29T19:54:00-05:00 Image A- Sound A- Extras D+ "Jackal Onassis Backstage Party," "Precious Lights Preschool Auction," "Nick DiCintio's Orgy Night," "James Ellison Funeral," "Steve Guttenberg's Birthday," "Not On Your Wife Opening Night," "Party Down Company Picnic," "Joel Munt's Big Deal Party," "Cole Landry's Draft Day Party," "Constance Carmell Wedding" by Jefferson Robbins Hitting its sophomore stride just in time to meet the axe, the Starz sitcom "Party Down" tries its damnedest to make an arc out of its concept: catering staff with frustrated dreams of fame passes out shrimp rolls to the Hollywood elite. Off-putting and cruel in its first season, the ensemble comedy hits its rhythm this time around, even managing to develop a theme beyond "workaday despair." RUNNING TIME 28 minutes/episode ASPECT RATIO(S) 1.78:1 (16x9-enhanced) LANGUAGES English DD 5.1 CC Yes SUBTITLES English SDH Spanish REGION 1 DISC TYPE 2 DVD-9s STUDIO Anchor Bay Henry (Adam Scott) takes on the role of team leader for Party Down Catering, semi-contentedly serving drinks and hors d'oeuvres to the L.A. jet set and putting his failed acting career well behind him. He's thrown off by the return of love interest Casey (Lizzy Caplan), a struggling comic, and of Ron Donald (Ken Marino), the... Jefferson Robbins